Federal court denies Biden administration’s request to lift mandate injunction for healthcare workers

Missouri’s Attorney General Eric Schmitt posted the one-page order to Twitter on Monday afternoon.

"The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Department of Justice's motion for stay pending appeal in our lawsuit against the vaccine mandate on healthcare workers, meaning our injunction will stay in place."

The legal battles within the United States over mandating a Coronavirus vaccine have been ongoing through the final weeks of 2021.

It was at the beginning of November that the Biden administration formally unveiled their mass vaccination requirements for both healthcare workers and private sector employees. By the end of last month, federal judges from Louisiana and Missouri ruled in favor of blocking the COVID vaccine mandate for healthcare workers nationwide with a preliminary injunction.

These rulings are what led the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (and therefore healthcare companies) to pause implementing Biden’s vaccine mandate at the start of this month.

Those proceedings are separate from another recent ruling that prevents vaccine mandates for federal contractors. In addition, last Wednesday the US Senate voted 52 to 48 in favor of repealing vaccine mandates for private businesses. But the procedure of lawmaking in Washington DC makes it unlikely that the Senate’s measure will be enacted.

Mandate fervor hasn’t stopped other COVID mandates and questions about many vaccines people might still need to get beyond the initial doses. The Pfizer CEO says a fourth dose of vaccine will likely happen "sooner than expected" amid the Omicron variant, even though Dr. Fauci’s remarks suggest that this newest wave is less severe than the previous.